Long Range Planning Committee Report, Fall 2016

The purpose of the Long-Range Planning Committee (LRPC) is to monitor internal and external trends and to develop plans that will allow the Division to evolve and adapt to changes in technology, in science, and in the needs and expectations of Division members. To that end, we have been working with the Chair succession to operationalize the Division’s Strategic Plan.

Mission: To engage its’ global network of members by communicating, promoting and effectively identifying opportunities and resources responsive to the spectrum of chemistry teaching and learning environments.

Goal 2: Exchange ideas and expertise for the teaching and learning of chemistry within ACS and with national and international organizations.

Goal 3: Establish an infrastructure to foster professional development and mentoring opportunities for DivCHED members, promote broader participation of membership in DivCHED activities, and nurture future DivCHED leaders.

Goal 4: Maintain and enhance access to quality resources, including those developed within and outside of CHED that enrich the teaching and learning of chemistry.

Chairs were also tasked with asking these questions of their committees:

1. How has this committee addressed the goals of the Strategic Plan?

2. How might this committee address the goals of the Strategic Plan moving forward?

The combined responses generated many artifacts of how the Division already addresses these goals. However, the opportunity to set forth long range plans remains.

As discussed in Boston, the LRPC plan is to focus on only a few goals of the Strategic Plan at a time. We started with Goal 3 that addresses the professional development piece of the plan. We would like to know, “What long-term goal can each committee set that helps the Division meet Goal 3 of the Strategic Plan?” Chairs were asked to introduce this idea at their committee meetings in San Diego.

At the San Diego LRPC meeting, the committee’s discussion evolved to consider pairing goals. The pairing would allow all four goals to be monitored within a reasonable time frame. In this scheme, Goal 3 would pair with Goal 1. In other words, “Here’s our idea to foster/promote professional development within DivCHED…now, here’s how we communicate that to the greater Chem Ed community.” The LRPC has been working on having committees develop Goal 3 this summer. After the Philadelphia meeting, we will have those groups start working on Goal 1. The next pairing would be Goal 4 (resources) with Goal 2 (exchange ideas).

At the San Diego ExComm meeting, the LRPC’s modifications to both the Division’s Mission Statement and Strategic Plan were introduced. Our committee’s intention is to present a motion at the Philadelphia meeting to approve the Mission Statement and Strategic Plan so that we can move forward with plans to promote the Strategic Plan and assess progress made toward achieving its goals.

At the Philadelphia meeting, LRPC will continue our discussion of how we roll out the Strategic Plan to the general CHED community. A multi-modal approach was discussed which may include e-mail blasts, social media and YouTube videos. We will talk about how we encourage committees to promote their Goal 3 plans to the community as well.

The committee is indebted to Dr. Ingrid Montes for providing the leadership necessary to bring us to this point. Thank you for having the vision to look toward the future and staying that course. The committee also owes a debt of gratitude to Rich Bauer for his service on the LRPC. Rich has served continuously on LRPC since 2005.